Las Vegas Homes, Condos, Land and Commercial Real Estate Blog

Mr. Brian R, a true gentleman from Ohio called me about investing in Las Vegas real estate, I recommended that he consider Las Vegas homes and condos for sale as good investment opportunities because at today’s low prices it is possible to generate positive cash flow.

I have repeatedly written that before you see a single property, get pre-approved. I asked Brian to write about his experience as a first time investor in Las Vegas real estate market and true scholar that he is, he said yes. Below is his first essay.

After reading Brian’s essay I decided to add a new category (investing in Las Vegas real estate) to the blog so you can read them in order. I believe that the series about investing in a Las Vegas property is the most important blog series I have done, these articles are NOT designed to entertain you, they are designed to save you from financial ruin. Read and learn.

Brian’s Essay about preparing to invest in Las Vegas real estate:

Hello everyone, my name is Brian, I am 38 years old, and I live in Medina, Ohio.  I am married, and I have two sons, one age 7 and one age 17.  I have been corresponding/communicating with Masoud for approximately four weeks now, and he has asked me to contribute to his website in the form of a journal of sorts.  It is his belief that my experiences may be of benefit to some first time buyers that may be contemplating dipping their toes into the real estate market as an investor for the first time.  I’m not convinced that this will be of much benefit to any readers out there, but I will do my best.

I will attempt to post once per week, and the first few will catch you up to the present time.  The first question I feel should be answered is why am I deciding to invest in real estate property right now?

Why dabble in real estate right now?  I seriously think that as I’ve gotten older, as I’ve read more, done more research, invested more in the stock market, I have learned a great deal, and I hope to continue to learn more as I progress as an investor.  As of right now, I would give myself a grade of C minus, and that is only due to the fact that I have committed to investing in the stock market, and I have relatively little debt.  To grade the performance of my investments, I would have to give myself a D plus.  The poor grades have nothing to do with the recent stock market meltdown.  I understand what happened, and I lost around 35% of my portfolio similarly to many others that have 401ks and IRAs, etc….

What really irritates me about the financial sector is that my investments to date are primarily in three categories.  I have approximately $35,000 in a company sponsored 401k (which was valued at $55,000 as of 1/1/08.  I have $20,000 in a Roth IRA (that was valued at $30,000 as of 1/1/08) and I have $30,000 worth of ExxonMobil stock (that was worth $30,000 as of 1/1/08).  You may question why the XOM could be worth exactly what it was as of a year ago, as if you do the appropriate research, you will see that XOM is down approximately 12% from one year ago.  The reason is that I have continued to contribute $ towards all of these funds since 1/1/08, so my contributions to at least the XOM account has enabled me to keep its value relatively stable.

What irritates me the most is that out of the IRA, the 401k and the XOM account, the first two are managed by PROFESSIONALS, and the third one is managed by ME.  Granted, all eggs are in one basket in the one I manage, but it is a basket that I really feel strongly about.  The world needs oil and XOM is the largest oil company.  Not too difficult of a position to have.  (My grandfather was a chemical engineer for XOM, and my mother purchased me 5 shares as a college graduation gift, so I stuck with it from there).

The point is, I am getting extremely jaded by being a lemming in the investment world and just following along, listening to the mantra of tucking money away, compounding my interest so I can keep hoarding year after year after year, the point being reaching the goal of having a million in the bank when I am 65 years old, so long as I average 8% a year in returns.  Well I am waking up to the reality of that being a farfetched illusion right now, and I am deciding to take a more active role in my life as an investor.  I am making the decision to buy a rental property in Vegas, and I am trusting Masoud to find me one that fits for me.

Part two of Brian’s Essay, the next post